The Start of a New Adventure
by IrisRaylene
Summary: It's been nearly 20 years since the end of the final book. In that time, the fight against the MBA is nearing its end. With victory in sight, everyone is ready to celebrate. Until something terrible happens that could send things back to the start of the war. Narrated by a new generation of heroes: the quirky 16-year-old Aki and her ever-serious 17-year-old childhood friend, Ryuu.
1. Chapter 1: A Terrible Idea

_Author's Note: Hello everyone! I am IrisRaylene and this is my very first fanfiction! \^o^/ I'm a really big fan of the whole Toshokan Sensou series and was so excited to read all of the other fanfictions here. Seriously, I think I read every story on this site... There are some really interesting and cute stories here! And I really wanted to contribute to that, so here I am. I also wanted to write something kind of…original. I decided pretty early on that I wanted to write about all of the characters after the end of the fourth book. But then I had a really hard time keeping everyone in character and it was hard to make the story seem likeable. So the main characters ended up being my own creations. Please don't worry, all of your favorite characters (and pairings) will definitely be in the story, it just might take me another chapter or two to get there. If you could give me and my story a chance, that would be wonderful._

_Keeping that in mind, I hope that you all like this story as much as I do. And if you could be so kind as to take the time to read, rate, and review, I would very much appreciate it. So, without further ado, here is my first chapter. Enjoy!_

_Oh yeah, I don't own any part of Toshokan Sensou. I'm just a fan._

**-x-**

**Aki:**

"_Aki, listen to me. You are, under no circumstance or situation, to ever set foot on the Kanto Library Base. Never ever. At all."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because…because if you do….then really terrible things will happen."_

"_Terrible things? What kind?"_

"_Just….really terrible things. That isn't the point. The point is, you can't ever go there. Do you understand?"_

"_I guess so…."_

_*sigh* "This is for your own good, Aki. I just don't want anything got happen to you."_

"_Okay, I'll stay away."_

**-x-**

"Ryuu, I'm bored."

"Good for you."

"We should do something fun!"

"We should finish our homework before getting distracted and leaving it to the very last minute of the last day of summer break."

"You're boring. I hope you know that."

I was laying on the floor of my childhood friend Ryuu's room, trying to decide on the perfect start-of-summer adventure. I was already in my first year of high school, and Ryuu was in his second. And what had I done that was memorable and dramatic and adventurous? Absolutely nothing. I needed to do something exciting and this felt like the perfect day for it. It was warm and sunny. We had no clubs or sports. Homework didn't have to be done for weeks (even though Ryuu was working on his already). Mom and Dad were going to be busy at work all day with meetings.

That was it! I had the best idea ever. The greatest adventure that we could do with relative ease in under a day.

"Ryuu!" I shouted, jumping up off the floor and towards my friend, nailing him in the back. "I just thought of something perfect! It'll be really fun!"

"What?" He asked through clenched teeth, erasing the jagged line on his paper that appeared when I jumped into his back.

"Let's sneak into the Library Base!"

Ryuu's pencil snapped in half with a loud crack.

"You want to what now?" He asked slowly. "I'm going to assume that I must have terribly misheard you, because there is no way that even you are stupid enough to think that sneaking onto a semi-militarized base full of people who are well trained in using guns and using them against intruders could possibly be a good idea. Please tell me that I just heard you wrong and you actually suggested something normal and less dangerous, like going to the amusement park, sneaking into the movie theater, or even exploring the woods in the middle of the night, looking for a nice bear to wrestle."

"Why, you don't think I can do it?" I asked. "The sneaking in thing, not bear wrestling."

"I don't think anyone can." Ryuu pointed out. "It's a really, really bad idea, Aki. You'll just get yourself killed. Also, didn't your Dad forbid you from ever going to the Base?"

"He did indeed. And that, my friend, is why we have to sneak. Also, I didn't exactly plan on telling him what I was doing." Ryuu sighed.

"Aki, it can't be done."

"Not even by you?" That sparked his interest. He was actually considering it now. Ryuu was well-known for being good at just about anything and everything. Nicknamed Mr. Perfect since elementary school, if Ryuu couldn't do it, then it couldn't be done. And that's all there was to it.

"Well…I mean….maybe I could….if I had more time to plan…..and a map….then it might…."

"Would it help if I said I could find us some Defense Force uniforms?"

"Seriously? You can get us uniforms? Like, the actual uniforms?" I nodded. "Then…in that case, this might actually be doable."

"So you'll come?"

"Let me ask you this." Ryuu spun his chair around, taking his full attention away from homework for the first time. "Do you absolutely positively have to do this?" I nodded again. "And you're going to go no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"It would be a lot more fun if you came along, but yeah, I'm going no matter what." I admitted.

"Then," he let out an exhausted sort of sigh. "I'll come with you. But only on two conditions. The first is that, while we are there, you have to do everything I say. No acting on your own, no running wild through the base. You stay with me and stay out of trouble. And two, we have to be home before dinner in case any of our parents start to wonder what's up. Okay?"

"Okay!" I hugged my friend, so excited I might die right there. "I'll go get the uniforms! Meet me at the café across the street in an hour!"

"Wait, why can't we just take care of that here….." I was already climbing out the window of his room when he said that, so it was a little late. Besides, this was an adventure; there was no time to waste!

**-x-**

**Ryuu:**

This was a terrible idea. So incomparably stupid and dangerous that I couldn't believe I had actually agreed to it. Why had I agreed to it? This was so unlike me. I was supposed to be the mature and responsible one. And here I was, getting swept up in Aki's stupid schemes all over again.

She'd left right after telling me to meet her at the café, so I had no choice but to head down there and hope she wouldn't do anything stupid on her way over. Then again, she wasn't exactly known for thinking things through all the way.

"That idiot…" I muttered.

"Wow, you even insult me when you're alone. I don't know how to feel about that." I turned around to find Aki, already in her Defense Force uniform. "Oh yeah, what do you think? How do I look?"

"You look…like a Defense Force member." She actually pulled it off quite well, though I imagine part of that was due to her unusual height. Aki was also lucky enough to have already had shorter hair and good posture. Now if we could just keep her in the background, we might actually get away with all of this.

No wait, why was I getting excited? I definitely wasn't going to enjoy this. I was not going to take pleasure in breaking so many rules sneaking into the Kanto Library Base. This was still a terrible idea.

"Here's your uniform Ryuu!" Aki was grinning. "Hurry up and change!" I sighed, yet again.

Don't enjoy this, Ryuu. Don't get excited. Don't let Aki's incurable, adventure-loving optimism get to you. No matter what, this is still a terrible idea.

A really terrible idea.

**-x-**

_A Final Author Note: Hey guys, this is it for the first chapter. It wasn't quite as...exciting as I wanted it to be, but fear not, the second will be better than the first. Anyway, if you could kindly rate and review. I hope you enjoyed reading and that you'll come back for more. See you next time!_

_Love, IrisRaylene_


	2. Chapter 2: Busted

_Author's Note:_ _Hello everyone, IrisRaylene here. Finally got the second chapter of this story posted, so I'm really excited! Hopefully the others won't take quite as long, but I won't make any promises. Real quick before we begin, this is the chapter where things actually start to happen. This chapter will be narrated by Ryuu, because I feel like I cheated him a little last chapter.  
Also, a special thanks to Lala, who was the first (and only) to review. I was so excited when I saw your review that I accidentally knocked my laptop off of my bed… -_- Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know what you thought!  
And now, please enjoy chapter two! ^.^_

_I don't own anything. Except the OCs and plot. But that is all._

**-x-Chapter Two: Busted-x-**

**Ryuu:**

It was actually kind of alarming how easy it was for Aki and me to sneak onto the Library Base. We didn't even really have to sneak. We just walked right in through the main gate. No one asked us for ID. No one gave us suspicious looks. No one wondered why they had never seen us before. We were simple allowed to march right in with nothing more than our uniforms as identification. These uniforms turned out to be the best idea Aki ever had. Not that using them for this purpose was all that great.

Actually…now that I was thinking about it…these were real Defense Force uniforms. You couldn't just buy these in a store. So….

"Hey Aki," I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. "Where did you get these uniforms?"

"Oh?" She grinned. "You really want to know?" Something about her expression told me that it was probably better if I just dropped the subject.

"Anyway, what do you want to do while we're here?"

"I have no idea." Aki stopped walking and thought about that. "Hm….what should we do?"

"You mean to tell me that you have no plan?" Was she being serious right now? "Did you think this through at all? Why did you even want to come here in the first place?"

"Because I've never been here before." She answered with a very serious face, hand held out in a thumbs up. "Besides, you're usually the one who makes all the plans, so I thought I would leave that up to you."

She did have a point there. I had known Aki for years and, as a result, had been dragged on a great many of her whims…uh…adventures. And the one thing that was consistent in all of them was that Aki was terrible at planning. So in the end, I would always have to fix the plan or make up a new one entirely. Although in this situation, I still had to make a plan on the spot, as per usual, it was a bit of relief to hear that Aki was at least aware of the trouble she caused for others. Now if only she could just fix that.

"How about we go and take a look at the training grounds?" I offered. "We can walk around there, then explore the area from the ground to the actual library."

"Sounds like a plan!" Aki gave me a quick salute, then skipped off in the direction of the training grounds.

As we headed out in that direction, I was careful to stay out of everyone's way and to not attract any unnecessary attention to myself. I stayed to the side of the paths and never offered more than a nod to the people I passed. Aki, on the other hand…well, caution had never been her strong point.

She skipped along the path, not bothering to even keep to a straight line. And, to every single person she passed, she would greet them cheerfully, saying things like, "Hi, how are you? Lovely weather we have today! Have any big plans for this weekend? Enjoy your day!" It was like she was completely unaware that we weren't actually supposed to be here.

And the worst part was, no one on the Base seemed even sort of confused. No one questioned who this girl was, why they had never seen her before, or why she didn't act anything like a Defense Force member. No, that didn't seem to concern any of them. In fact, they would actually greet her back. Some gave a "Hi" or "Doing well, thanks" or "Sun is fine and all, but the weather today is a little too warm for my liking." A few of them even stopped walking to have an actual conversation with her.

"Oh, so your wife just had a baby? How nice!" Aki had stopped to speak with a middle-aged man who was definitely of a high enough rank that he should know who does and does not work here. "You must be excited to have some time off to spend with them, then!"

"Haha, yeah. I was lucky that Commander Tedzuka was able to approve my request for leave. We've been really shorthanded at the Base lately, I was worried I would hardly be able to go home at all." The man scratched the back of his head, giving an embarrassed laugh.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer then. Have a lovely day and enjoy your time off!" Aki waved as the man left, continuing on his way.

"Aki…." I said, trying my best to keep my voice calm. It wasn't working very well. I could already feel my eye twitching. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" I gave her a whispered shout, still trying not to draw attention to us.

"Eh? What do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side, looking honestly confused.

"We aren't supposed to be here. You do remember that, right?" She nodded. "Then please, please, I am begging you, calm down. We're going to get in a lot of trouble if we're caught, so you have to stop running around like a wild animal. And if you stop to have a conversation with everyone on the Base, then eventually, you're going to find a person who knows that we aren't supposed to be here. And then your father will find out and you'll be in trouble for doing something stupid. And I'll be in trouble for letting you. To be perfectly honest, Aki, I would really rather your father not kill me. So please, try to stay out of the way. Okay?"

"I'm sorry, Ryuu…." Her gaze drifted down to the ground. Oh no. Not this again. I was really bad at dealing with Aki when she was upset.

"I'm not mad." I told her quickly. "I'm just trying to be careful here."

"You two there!" A deep voice interrupted our conversation. "Would you mind coming over here for a minute?" Oh shit. An instructing officer. He stood by one of the training courses, a group of recruits in a neat line behind him. And he was staring at us. Asking us to come over. This was bad. Really, really bad.

"What can we do for you sir?" Aki didn't move forward, but instead offered the man a salute and a question.

"Since you two seem to have a bit of free time, you can run this course quick and show these recruits how it's done." The man waved us over yet again. Aki gave him another salute and started over. I grabbed her sleeve.

"Aki, what do you think you're doing?" I hissed.

"You said not to draw attention to ourselves." She whispered back. "So, won't it look suspicious to them if we refuse?" That….made a lot of sense, actually. I nodded and the two of us headed to the start line of the course.

"Alright you two. Just follow the path, keep your gun up, and don't mess up. We're trying to give these guys a good impression." This particular officer seemed a little too indifferent. He didn't even bother to ask our names, even for reference. He just shoved a gun into our hands and told us to get ready.

"I'll do my best sir!" Aki clenched her gun, corners of her mouth twitching with excitement. She was happy about this. She actually wanted to be running a course made for real Defense Force members. This idiot….

"And….GO!" The timers started and the two of us took off running.

Despite all her flaws, like the inability to be patient, think things over, or to ever do study for anything, Aki was one hell of a runner. Athletics were the one thing where she could even beat me, if she put her mind to it. Not that I thought I was better than everyone else or anything like that. I mean, I do well in gym class and stuff, but it's not like I'm the best or…..*cough* ugh, just forget all that.

Aki was a good athlete. And that probably saved us here. With some luck, we somehow both managed to cross the finish line within a time that the instructing officer found reasonable. As he was talking to the new recruits about what they should do or not do when running, using us as examples, Aki wandered over to the timekeeper.

"Hi! It was a really close race, right?" She smiled. "But I won that, didn't I?"

"Excuse you?" I interrupted. "I was definitely ahead. No way you beat me!"

"Nuh uh!" Aki stuck out her tongue. "I was a mile ahead of you!"

"You little…"

"Um…excuse me?" The timekeeper cut in. "If you don't mind, I have the official times, so I can just tell you." We both stopped. The timekeeper swallowed and held out the sheet with our times.

"Exactly the same?" We said in unison.

"Damn, and I was so sure I had you…" Aki sighed. "Thanks anyway Mister. We should get going now."

"Oh, yes, thank you."

Aki and I started off again, with me making a mental note to be more careful from here on out. So far we'd been lucky, but that couldn't keep up forever. If we kept getting stopped like this, then we were going to end up caught before lunch.

"Hey, you two over there!" Crap, not again. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before. Are you sure you're Defense Force members?" Oh god. It happened. We finally found someone who knew we didn't belong.

In a state of semi-panic, I slowly turned around to face the woman who called us out. I froze up. A tall, middle-aged woman with short brown hair stood a little ways away, hands on her hips. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she waited for an answer from us. I wasn't sure I could answer.

Her nametag, it said Doujou I.

"Iku-san..." I swallowed. Of course she had been the one to catch us.

"Oh, Ryuu?" Iku-san stepped forward. "It was you?"

"Uh…" There really wasn't any good way that I could play this off. I mean, I was wearing a Defense Force uniform. Iku-san knew very well that I was not a member. This was going to end badly.

"So, if this one here is Ryuu," she said, "then that would make the young lady back there…"

Aki flinched. Very, very slowly, she turned around. She raised her head and put on her best fake smile, though it did little to hide the fact that she was freaking out just as much as I was. Maybe more.

"Hi Mom." She said, waving nervously.

Busted. I knew this was a terrible idea.

**-x-**

_Another Note:__ Hey guys, how did you like the chapter? Was anyone surprised? I don't expect many were, but then again, I'm the author, so twists like these really don't affect me... Look forward to the next chapter. Iku will be sticking around for the next chapter as well. We'll also meet some more characters, which should be fun!  
If you could take the time to write me a review, I would really appreciate hearing from you. Having feedback really helps with writing, so if you want the story to be better, please let me know! Also, let me know if you liked it, so I know what to keep doing.  
Thanks for reading and I hope you come back for chapter three! It should be up soon._

_Love, IrisRaylene_


	3. Chapter 3: More Trouble Than It's Worth

_Author's Note:__ Hi hi, IrisRaylene here with the third chapter. Sorry that this one took so long to write, but I was having a hard time narrating in the right tone and stuff…bleh.  
Today's special thanks goes to __**NK **__and __**Lala.**__ Thank you so much for the reviews! Your excitement makes writing this story so much more fun! I really love hearing from readers, so please feel free to review. If you didn't like it, tell me what to change. If you did, tell me what to keep doing.  
As a final note before we begin, I'm trying to balance Aki and Ryuu's perspective more. Aki is a lot more fun to write, but Ryuu is a little more useful in narrating the story (he has a better attention span…). If you guys have any preference on who narrates more, let me know. Some parts of the story require certain people to narrate, but a lot of it is open to change too. I'd be interested to hear whose perspective is more popular.  
Alright, enough of that, let's begin chapter three!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. I spent all my money on coffee, so I couldn't afford to anyway… T^T_

**-x-Chapter 3: More Trouble Than It's Worth-x-**

**Aki:**

"…."

"….."

"…."

I swear, if someone doesn't say something soon, I might actually go crazy.

After learning that Ryuu and I had snuck onto the Base, Mom hadn't said a word. She just stood right there, arms crossed, staring at us. Even Ryuu was uncharacteristically silent. He didn't try to talk his way out of this or offer a single explanation. Not that there was much either of us could do. All the talking in the world wasn't going to change the fact that neither of us was supposed to be here.

No one spoke. No one moved. The three of us just stood there. The heavy silence hanging between us was killing me. Seriously, why was no one saying anything? Mom, if you're going to yell at me, then just do it! I mean, I already know that I'm in trouble. Let's just get this over with and move on with our lives.

Mom uncrossed her arms. Oh, here we go. She was finally going to say something. I braced myself for what would probably be an onslaught of "What were you thinking?" and "Did this _sound_ like a good idea?" or even "You should really listen to Ryuu more, instead of dragging him around with you." Yeah, this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Ryuu, you actually look quite nice in my old uniform."

An unexpected blow! I hadn't prepared for that. And neither had Ryuu, it seemed. He choked in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" He coughed out. "Your uniform, Iku-san?"

"Yes, that's my old Defense Force uniform." Mom nodded.

"Aki…" Ryuu turned to me, his eye twitching again.

"Well, where did you think I got them?" I shrugged. "Besides, you know that my parents are on the Defense Force." What did he think, that I stole them from some military outfitter? Or…wherever these came from?

"Aki, why am I wearing _your mother's_ old uniform?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, that? Of course you're wearing Mom's. You didn't think you'd fit in my father's old uniform, did you? You're way taller than he is." I reasoned. Mom laughed.

"Isn't it fine, Ryuu?" She asked. "After all, they look exactly the same."

"IT'S A MATTER OF PRICIPLE!" He shouted, clearly nearing the end of his patience.

"Oh my, he seems upset…" Mom sighed. "Anyway, Aki dear, what are you doing on the Base?"

"I…uh…kinda wanted to…you know…explore a little." Wow. I didn't realize until I actually had to justify my actions how incredibly stupid the reason sounded. What sixteen year old girl sneaks onto a defense base just to explore? What was I, a child?

"Okay then. Are you having fun?" Wait, seriously? She was okay with that?

"Iku-san, you aren't mad?" Ryuu sounded just as confused as I felt.

"Yeah, Mom, aren't I supposed to be banned from this Base?" Don't tell me she'd forgotten.

"Oh that?" Mom sighed. "That's just your father being your father, you know how he is. If you want to look around, I think that's fine. Just don't get hurt and try not to break anything. Oh, and be careful not to let your father catch you. Because I don't think he'd be very happy about this."

"You…you aren't going to tell him?" I could hardly believe our luck.

Mom just laughed. "Of course not. I don't want to ruin your fun. Besides, I have to sit next to your father for another four hours of meetings and I would really rather he be in a good mood for that…"

"Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be in meetings all day today? What the hell are you doing just walking around the Base then?!" Mom answered me by driving her fist into the top of my head.

"That's not how you talk to your mother. And, for your information, I was in a meeting until a few minutes ago, but everyone was dying of boredom, so we were let out for a short break."

"Oh." I said, crouching on the ground and holding my head. "Okay."

"I should really be getting back soon," Mom sighed. "Ah, have you two been to the main library building yet? I heard there's a new shipment coming in. That might be interesting to see. Of course, be sure to stay out of the way so you don't get roped into helping them move things."

"Alright."

"One more thing, Ryuu?" Ryuu looked up, surprised that Mom was addressing him. "Please try to keep my daughter safe. It'd be difficult to explain how she got hurt to her father without getting all of us in trouble. I'll see you two later!" She jogged back to the main building, giving us a small wave before disappearing inside.

"Your mom," Ryuu said after a minute, "is really weird."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I'm not gonna argue with that."

**-x-**

**Ryuu:**

In retrospect, I should have guessed that Iku-san really wouldn't care if we snuck onto the Base or not. Iku-san had never really been mad, no matter what kind of stupid 'adventures' we had. Her father would always be the one that yelled at us. My father would try not to get involved. And both of our mothers would just laugh, finding our adventures to be "highly entertaining."

I suppose, in that sense, we were pretty lucky. Out of all of the people on this Base that know who we are, or at least know that we don't belong here, out of all of the people that could have found us, we were caught by the one who really didn't care.

"Well, now that that's over with," I turned to Aki, "would you like to take a look at the Library?" Had Aki even been to the Library? I know that she had been banned from coming near the Base, but did the main building count?

"Can we really?" Aki clasped her hands together, eyes sparkling. Apparently it did count.

Once we made it into the main building, Aki's hyperactivity went right into overdrive. She raced around the library in a silent flurry of overwhelming excitement. It was actually kind of funny how the one rule she would follow was keeping quiet in a library. But, then again, she was from a family of book lovers.

"Ryuu, Ryuu, this has to be the coolest place ever!" She ran back over to me, who was still standing by the entrance. Her eyes were sparkling even more now. "I'm so glad we came here!"

"Nice to know you're having so much fun." I chuckled.

"Well of course, adventures with you are always fun, Ryuu!" She grinned.

That damn smile. I couldn't even count the number of times that I forgot how reckless and dangerous Aki's ideas were, all because of that stupid smile. No matter what kind of adventure it was and no matter how much trouble we inevitably ran into, she would always smile like she couldn't imagine ever being happier in her life. She would smile like that, and I would forget all the reasons I had protested the adventure in the first place. This girl was dangerous, that was for sure.

"Eh, isn't that Aki and Ryuu?" Shit, seriously? Why did this keep happening to us? How many times were we going to get called out before karma was satisfied?

"Oh, Hisa! Rie-chan!" Aki waved. Wait…did she say Hisa and Rie? What were the odds of that? I turned around and, sure enough, we had been called out, not by any library employee, but by two middle school students.

Hisoka and his younger sister, Rie, were in their third and first year of middle school, respectively. They also happened to be the children of close family friends, so the four of us had known each other pretty much since birth.

"I wanted to explore the Library Base, so Ryuu and I snuck in!" Aki announced.

"Idiot, who says that in such a loud voice in the middle of the freaking library?!"

"You two are as amusing as always." Hisoka chuckled. "So this is another one of Aki's 'brilliant adventures' I take it?"

"Naturally," I sighed. "You think I was going to come up with a plan this stupid on my own?"

"You did go along with it, Ryuu-nii." Rie pointed out in her quiet voice. I froze.

"Don't question it too much, Rie." Hisoka patted her on the head, smiling calmly. "You know that Ryuu's a pushover when it comes to Aki."

"Oy, oy…" What the hell did he think he was saying?

"Ah, that's right!" Rie giggled. "I forgot that Ryuu-nii always follows Aki-nee. He's her knight in shining armor! Right, nii-san?"

"Hey!" I hissed, desperately trying to think of something to get them to shut up. "That isn't funny." Judging by how hot my face was, I was probably bright red by now. How exactly was I supposed to explain that away?

"Um, I don't really get what's happening…" That's right, I forgot. Aki is naturally oblivious when it comes to things like this. I almost felt like laughing. With both her and her mother, I got all worried and panicky for nothing. "But what are Hisa and Rie-chan doing here?"

"We came to check out books." Hisoka held up a small stack of novels, smiling. "You know, the thing that most people do at libraries." Rie nodded enthusiastically, holding up her own stack.

"Ooh, that one looks interesting!" Aki slid one of the books out of Rie's arms.

Well, this wasn't exactly how I had expected our adventure to end up, but I suppose it was fine. Aki was happy, and we had avoided any serious trouble so far. Running into Hisoka and Rie had been unexpected, but they certainly weren't going to cause problems for us. Not the mild-mannered Hisoka and timid Rie. We were fine for now. Let's just hope that the rest of this day goes smoother.

**-x-**

**Aki:**

I had been talking to Rie-chan about the latest mystery novel that I read when a small group of men in Defense Force uniforms passed us. One of them bumped me as he passed, knocking me into Ryuu.

"Hey!" I called after the man, who apparently intended to walk away without even bothering to apologize. "Watch where you're going!" The man turned around and gave me a half-hearted nod.

"Not even an attempt at an apology?" Hisa sighed. "Adults these days…"

"My apologies…" The man said in a forced voice. "I did not mean to run into Corporal…" He trailed off, frowning at me. Crap, he wanted to know my name. I wasn't wearing a nametag, since that was kind of an issue. But I still had the rank insignia, so he thought I really worked here.

"Satou." I blurted out the first name I could think of, thanking every god in existence that it was a normal enough name. There probably was a Corporal Satou somewhere.

"Corporal Satou." The man nodded again.

"It's okay!" I smiled. "Just be careful." The group, five men in total, turned and continued on their way. They seemed to be headed toward the front desk.

"That was weird." Hisa shook his head. I was content to let it go at that, but Ryuu was still frowning in their direction. "What's the matter, Ryuu?"

"Nothing…" He shook his head slowly. "It's just…something felt off about those guys."

"Off?" I looked back at them. "How so?"

"Well, that's…you gave them a fake name, but they didn't even blink an eye. All five of them were pretty close to our supposed rank, too, so they should have been able to recognize you. Or, recognize that you aren't really a Defense Force member."

"You said the same thing about everyone we passed today. Maybe they just assumed we were in a different training group?"

"I'm sure that's it." Ryuu shook his head again, letting out a small sigh. "I'm probably just overthinking things."

Hisa and Rie-chan resumed the conversation about books, but I couldn't focus on it anymore. If those men had bothered Ryuu that much, then there must be something about them that didn't fit. I kept my eye on them as they made their way to the front desk and turned on one of the vacant computers. One of the men opened a folder that he was carrying and seemed to be comparing the notes in the folder to whatever was on the computer.

Oh, Mom had said that there was going to be a delivery to the library today. They must be checking the delivery details to make sure that it went smoothly. Of course they'd been edgy, they were in a hurry.

I sighed. This library adventure was turning out to be really stressful. With everything that kept happening to us, I was starting to wonder if maybe this was more trouble than it was worth…

**-x-**

_Final Note:__ We end this chapter with serious Aki and awkward Ryuu…haha. But seriously though, this chapter was so hard to write, I'm not gonna lie. I rewrote the entire thing about three times, and then individual sections even more than that. It took forever to get the plot headed in the direction that I wanted *sob*. And it ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would. What do you guys think? Did I do okay?  
Ah, I should also apologize for both this chapter and in advance if any of the original characters seem kind of OOC to you. I blame it on them getting older and having kids (also my writing ability, but we don't need to talk about that…). I'll do my best to keep them as close as I can, but bear with me, this is my first attempt at a fanfic.  
As a side note, I think Iku would probably be a great mother. She does really well with kids and she seems like the kind who wouldn't be too upset if her kid got into fights or had wild adventures, so long as they didn't get hurt or cause too many problems for other people. Which is how Aki ended up the way she did, I think. Doujou, on the other hand, would definitely be an overprotective parent. He would freak out about all kinds of things. But that isn't part of the story…yet. (mwahahaha…*cough cough*)  
Anyway, as of now, you have met the four OCs that will be in this story. Excluding minor sides and villains, since no one cares about them. Aki, Ryuu, Hisoka, and Rie. Can you tell who all their parents are? Aki for sure, but what about the others? I think it's pretty easy, but my opinion is irrelevant since I wrote this…  
If you could please send me your thoughts, that would really help with future writing. Also, I love hearing from people. So yeah. Review, favorite and follow me! I will love you forever if you do. 3 See you all next time! Chapter four should be up soon!_

_Love, IrisRaylene_


	4. 4: Because the Library's In Danger

_Author's Note:__ Hey hey, this is IrisRaylene! And before you all send the angry mob after me, I will apologize for taking over a month to write this. I took a week off of writing for finals week at school. And then I was home on spring break and didn't want to do anything that involved my brain. At all. After I got back to school, I actually did write this entire chapter in about three days. It was awesome. I was just about to post it too, when my computer decided that it really needed to update its software right freaking now. When I opened the recovery file of this chapter, all that was on it was my author note. And, like the genius that I am, I forgot what I wrote in this chapter.  
So yeah…that was embarrassing and painful and I'm sorry OTL. But on the bright side, this story now has almost 100 views! *cheers* That really isn't a whole lot, but it's certainly more than I ever thought I would get on this story, as sad as that is to admit… -_- Thank you everyone for reading this and I hope that you will continue to support me in the future.  
And now, since I'm sure you're all sick of this note already (if anyone even bothered to read it…), let's start the long-awaited (hopefully) chapter. If you could review, follow or favorite, I will love you forever. Enjoy! 3_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Library War. Obviously. Since this is a fanfiction._

**-x- Chapter 4: Because the Library's In Danger! -x-**

**Ryuu:**

Dear gods of luck,

If I have done something recently to offend you, then I offer you my most sincere apology. If it was Aki who offended you, I will apologize for her as well. She probably didn't mean it.

So, if you could find it in your hearts to maybe lift the terrible luck you have given us today, I would very much appreciate it. If our luck continues like this, Aki and I will end up dead or arrested by dinner time.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Ryuu

It wasn't even funny anymore. Not that it had ever been funny in the first place. But this, our level of luck today, it was beyond ridiculous. Though I generally consider myself to be a realistic person, it was hard to completely dismiss the idea that there were some greater forces conspiring against us.

Aki and I were talking to Hisoka and Rie about a new mystery novel that had come out recently. Aki was particularly excited about this, since she had been an avid fan of the series for years. And then, right when I was finally starting to relax a bit, it happened again.

"Hey, you two over there!" I was slowly being conditioned to fear those words. "You're going to be late!"

"Late?" Aki turned to the small group that had called us out. There were five of them, two Defense Force members and three Administrative Division librarians. One of the librarians nodded eagerly.

"Haven't you been paying attention to the time? The break is over in two minutes!" Break? What was she talking about? "If we don't leave right now, then we'll be late for the meeting! And they're finally going to get into the important stuff!"

"Ack!" Aki clapped a hand to her head, looking very much like a person who just forgot what time it was and was about to be late. "We'd better get moving then! Lead the way, guys!" She started walking after them.

"Wait, what? Aki, what do you think you're doing?" There was no way we could possibly attend a meeting where all of the important Library Force members would be gathered.

"It'll be fine, Ryuu. We can use the cover of the crowd to sneak out once we get there." She whispered.

"That's…actually a really reasonable plan." How uncharacteristic of her.

"You just thought something rude, didn't you?" She frowned. "Oh, wait a second, I almost forgot something!" Before the group of legitimate employees could continue on their way, Aki skipped back over to Hisoka and handed him the book that they had been discussing. "I almost forgot to give this back to you! Sorry!" She gave him a small smile and whispered something that I couldn't quite catch. Hisoka, however, must have heard her, because he nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright, let's get going!" Aki grabbed my arm and dragged me along with her as she sprinted after the others.

**-x-**

We made it to the meeting room just as everyone else had started filing back in. I couldn't see anyone likely to cause a problem for us, but that didn't mean that we could let our guard down. Fortunately, in the mass of Library employees shuffling through, we had managed to lose the group that brought us here. This might be our only chance to sneak away. And then I was going home. I was done with this 'adventure' and all of the stress that it was causing me.

"I wonder what this meeting is going to be about." Someone in the crowd grumbled. "It seems like no one knows anything about this."

"I heard that this meeting was specially ordered by Commander Tedzuka. Only the Commander and the Special Task Force know anything about this." Another person offered.

"Seriously? Must be pretty important then…"

"An all-day meeting on a topic so secret that only the very top-level people know about it, there's no way it can be something trivial. I just hope that the Library's okay."

Aki stopped walking.

"Oh no…" I tugged her arm, hoping to drag her out of the crowd before…too late. It was too late. She was already overcome with curiosity.

"Ryuu…" She pleaded, eyes shining. If I dragged her away now, I would never hear the end of this. She'd spend the rest of the summer on the floor of my room, complaining about how she never got to hear what this meeting was all about. This decision was entirely for that reason. I only agreed to this because I wanted to be able to do the rest of my summer homework in peace. It wasn't me giving into Aki. This was an entirely selfish decision, got it?

"At the next break, we are leaving, okay? I'll buy you ice cream or something to make up for cutting this short." Aki nodded in agreement.

"We'll go right home at the next break, of course." She must have really wanted to go to this meeting. Under any other circumstances, Aki would have tried to get me to give more than that. But she had accepted immediately.

"Let's go find some good seats then. In the back, close to the door, I think."

Fortunately for us, since everyone was so curious about this subject, they all took the seats in the front. The seats in the back were mostly empty and under dimmer lighting. If we kept our heads down and stayed quiet, it was maybe possible for us to last until the next break like that.

We watched the rest of the Library Force make their way into the meeting room and take their seats. Many of them were high-ranking members too. For all of them to be here at the same time, this had to be a really important meeting. Would we be okay listening in to this? We weren't going to get in trouble for hearing some classified information, were we?

But…wait…even though there were all of these important people here, I hadn't seen the Base Commander yet. Several members of the Special Task Force had arrived, but no Commander. That was a relief.

"Alright, settle down, settle down. I know that you're all so excited for this meeting, so let's get going and get it over with quickly." A tall older man stood at the front of the room, motioning for everyone to settle down. I had never seen him before, so I wasn't sure, but I think that he was Library Director Komura. (_AN: his name isn't important. I just picked a name at random since he isn't an important character. He probably won't even appear again after this chapter. Poor Komura…_)

"I know that a long and tedious meeting isn't at the top of anyone's list," Komura continued, drawing a few laughs from the crowd, "but this is important. Let's move this along quickly then, shall we?"

**-x-**

**Aki:**

A library-wide meeting on a mysterious subject, specifically scheduled by the Base Commander. I didn't know what was going on here, but it had mystery and intrigue written all over it. I had done really well in picking a day to come.

The Library Director stood in the front with a small stack of notecards in his hand.

"The topic of today's meeting is a recent security breech in the Library Base, brought to attention by the Base Commander. According to these notes that I was given just before the meeting, the most recent breach in security occurred earlier this morning when a small group infiltrated the Base dressed in stolen Library Defense Force Uniforms. We don't know how many there are in total, who they are affiliated with, or what they intend to accomplish here. However, given how smoothly they were able to make their way in, it is safe to assume that they are skilled at infiltration and have practiced this before. It's possible that this group has been sneaking onto the Base for a while now, but hasn't acted yet. Commander Tedzuka and I believe that, if they are going to act, it will be soon. If this group is in any way aligned with or in support of the Media Improvement Act, then they have to act before the end of next week. Next week, as I hope you all remember, is when the courts will make their final decision about further limitations to the Act. I don't need to tell you how bad it would be if they were to find a weak point in the library's system right now." The crowd buzzed with nervous chatter. "So, in order to efficiently handle this-"

"Wait…WHAT?!" Someone near the middle shouted. "There are spies here?!" Oh god, please tell me that wasn't…

"What the hell kind of idiot are you?" Another voice hissed. "Sit down and stop making a scene in the middle of the meeting!" There was a dull _thunk._ Yup. It was them.

"Did you really have to hit me? You're making just as much of a scene as I am!"

"And who's fault do you think that is?!"

"Is there a problem over there?" Director Komura frowned in the direction of the commotion.

"It's nothing to worry about, sir," a third person assured him. "Just the Doujou couple with the usual. Carry on, they'll settle down in a minute."

"Ah," Director Komura nodded, completely accepting this explanation. "Then, as I was saying…"

Seriously? He was just going to ignore that embarrassing outburst and keep talking like it was nothing? Actually, when I looked around the room, it seemed like that scene hadn't phased anyone. A few people had turned to see what was going on, but their attention went right back to Director Komura. Most people hadn't reacted at all. It was as if that was so common of a scene that everyone just wrote it off as a perfectly normal occurrence.

My head sunk down to the desk.

"You okay?" Ryuu whispered.

"Not even a little. Who asked those two to be so embarrassing?" And why did I have to be related to them? "I knew that's how they acted at home, but I had always assumed they were…you know…more reasonable in public." I have no idea why I assumed that. It was really more wishful thinking than anything else.

"You have no grounds to complain when you're a carbon copy of your parents."

"I know…" I sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Ryuu. I will never cause trouble for you again."

"Can I have that in writing?" He asked with a quiet laugh.

"…and if you see this group, you are all strongly advised to avoid confrontation. Report it to the Special Task Force immediately. Likewise, if anyone has any information that could be helpful, you are asked to report to the Commander's office during the next break. I cannot stress enough how urgent this is. We need to find out who these people are and what they want before anything bad happens." Director Komura continued.

"They're really going all out to catch these guys, aren't they…?" I hoped that they could catch them. What kind of people would break into the Library Base at a time like this…wait...oh. Oh no. It couldn't possibly be… I glanced over at Ryuu, who had gone pale.

The two of us sat there in stone silence until the next break.

**-x-**

**Ryuu:**

I knew this would happen. I had completely seen this coming. I told Aki that this was what was going to happen before we even left for this stupid little adventure. Why couldn't I ever just listen to myself? But no, I had to go ahead and let Aki do whatever she pleased and look where that got us. This was by far the worst trouble she had ever gotten us in. And there was very little that I could do to resolve this situation. We were both dead. Dead for sure.

When the next break came in the meeting, a little over an hour later, I grabbed Aki's wrist and hurried the two of us out of there. We were going home now. We'd just go home, put away the uniforms, and never speak of this day again. That is, assuming we could make it off the Base without rousing the suspicion of everyone else. I had less than no desire to be dragged off to the Base Commander's office as a criminal.

"Ryuu…I know that I promised we would go right home at the next break, but we have to do one more really important thing first."

"Unless that important thing is 'to dig a hole and hide in it until this all blows over,' I really don't want to hear it."

"Don't be ridiculous." I was being ridiculous? Seriously? Which one of us was the one that wanted to stay in a place where we were being hunted down by people trained to us guns? "We have to go to the Commander's office."

"Excuse me?" Aki was reckless, of course, but this was too much even for her. "You are aware that the Commander and the Special Task Force are actively searching for us because they think we're supporters of the Media Improvement Act, right?"

"Not us," Aki shook her head. "Weren't you paying attention? This meeting has been scheduled for at least a week. Meaning that the issues with security have been going on for longer than that. We can't possibly be the group that they're talking about because this is the first time I've ever been on the Base. And you haven't been here in years."

"That's…" She had a point. Amazingly enough, Aki had been calm and rational enough to pay better attention than me to the Library Director's lecture. "So…if it isn't us that they're after, why do we need to meet with the Commander? Can't we just cut our losses and get out of here while they're all distracted?"

"No! We can't leave now. Because even though we aren't the ones they're looking for, we know who is."

"I'm not following…"

"Think about it." Aki sighed, looking disappointed. "The real culprits also snuck into the Base today, dressed in Defense Force uniforms. So who did we see while exploring that was wearing Defense Force uniforms and didn't quite fit in with the rest of the Force?"

"Those men that ran into you in the library." I had thought there might be something off about them, but at the time, I just wrote it off as paranoia. However, if they were the ones behind all the security breaches lately, that made a lot of sense. "But, even if we saw them, there must have been a dozen others who saw them as well. We can't just march into the Commander's office. Especially since the Special Task Force will be there as well. That means your father. If you go in there, you'll never see the light of day again."

"Ryuu, I can't just sit around and assume that other people will do this for me. We have the ability to help, so we have to do it. Even if it means getting into a bit of trouble." I had never seen her look so serious in her life. Even this morning's level of stubbornness couldn't compare.

"Why are you so serious about this?"

"Because the Library's in danger, dammit!"

And with that, I was dragged off to the office of Base Commander Tedzuka to face whatever horrible fate awaited us in the name of saving the Library. I could only hope that this ended well for everyone involved…

**-x-**

_Final Note:__ Phew *wipes sweat from brow*, finally done. I had to rewrite this chapter so many times that it's not even funny anymore. Hopefully the next one won't be as painful. Or take as long to write. I'm really sorry that you all had to wait so long for this to come out, but thank you for your patience and I will do my best not to let it happen again.  
If you could be so kind as to take a minute to write a review, I would really appreciate it. I would love to know what you thought of my story, if you liked it, or what I should change/work on next time. Until then, I hope you enjoyed my story and I look forward to seeing y'all again soon._

_With love, IrisRaylene_


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